Detente
The term first used by French President Charles de Gaulle in the early 1960s Relaxation of East-West tensions Peaceful coexistence The core idea: despite the profound differences between the capitalist and communist systems, war is not inevitable, there are mutual interests which can be best served by cooperation in: Avoiding a major war; pursuing arms control and disarmament Joint approaches to regional conflicts Trade and investment
Important threshold: the 1963 Test Ban Treaty In a broad sense, détente started right after Stalin’s death. Several cycles of tension-relaxation from 1953 to 1991 Important threshold: the 1963 Test Ban Treaty Reached a mature, institutionalized stage in 1971-75 1971: US recognizes the People’s Republic of China 1972: Settlement of the German Question 1972: The SALT-1 Treaty 1973: The US-Soviet trade agreement 1975: The Helsinki Final Act on Security and Cooperation in Europe
Khrushchev and Kennedy Reformers, dynamic leaders who promoted change and took risks Ideological warriors, optimistic about their systems’ prospects Almost went to war in 1962, then laid the foundation of the arms control system Kennedy was killed in 1963, Khrushchev overthrown in 1964 Brezhnev and Nixon Conservatives, preoccupied with order and stability Less ideological, more pragmatic; defensive about their systems Building on what was achieved in the previous decade
Changes in the global balance of power The nationalism-communism nexus in the Third World fuelled decolonization in the 1950s-1970s Until the mid-1970s, the US continued to confront it as a major global threat in a futile struggle America deadlocked, the war and domestic upheavals produce a profound political crisis at home, loss of influence abroad The conservative-led USSR benefits from American setbacks by: Continuing to support radical nationalists in the Third World; Maintaining tight control over Eastern Europe; Building up Soviet military potential; And developing détente-type relations with the West
The Drama of 1968 THE CHALLENGES Vietnam: the Tet offensive and President Johnson’s defeat Barricades in Paris and the fall of the conservative regime in France The Prague Spring THE RESPONSES Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King murdered The George Wallace movement: the rise of American fascism The Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia The election of Richard Nixon
The Nixon-Kissinger reform of US foreign policy Recognize the limits of American power: retrenchment and maneuvre “Vietnamization” Deal with the domestic crisis in the US Arrange a new balance of power by recognizing Communist China and playing “the China card” against Russia Appeal to Soviet conservatism; treat the USSR as a status-quo force; offer it incentives for acting like one Arms control for containment and stability Continued confrontation with the Left in the Third World (1973: Chile)
Things that worked: Arms control Normalization of US relations with China European security strengthened Failures: The US-Soviet trade deal was torpedoed by US Congress:1973 Nixon’s authoritarianism ultimately led to his defeat and resignation: 1974 US defeat in Vietnam: 1975 Overall impression of a shift in international balance of power against the USA, in favour of USSR, China, and the Global Left
Brezhnev’s benefits Soviet conservatism seemed to work better than US conservatism USSR seemed to get stronger and more influential in world affairs High oil prices helped the Kremlin put off necessary reforms But: The system was stagnant and increasingly dysfunctional The decolonization wave in the Global South was coming to an end
The Carter Presidency (1977-80) US tried to regain initiative through liberal internationalism Commitment to détente, but also: Raising the issue of human rights as a challenge to communist states Growing concerns about Soviet military buildup and aid to Third World Left By the end of 1979, Carter’s foreign policy was in shambles The Iranian revolution, Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and conservative revolt in the US buried détente. Talk of a “Second Cold War”